Alternate Reality: Dreams
by Celeste5502
Summary: When a former sandman steals the sand from one of his former cohorts and uses it to bring the heroes' dreams to life, they must carry out their dreams to the end and find out what exactly is behind them in reality...
1. Prologue: This Isn't a Dream

Prologue: This Isn't a Dream

It was late at night in the town of Domino. Except for a few extremely late night owls, practically everyone was sleeping quietly in their beds (except for Joey Wheeler, who let out loud snores that kept him from being woken up from even a bomb dropping). Dreaming had yet to start for any of them.

That, however, was about to change.

In Joey's bedroom, as he tossed and turned in his bed, causing the blanket to slide off of him and onto the messy bedroom floor, a strange, ghost-like person appeared by the side of the bed. The young man had midnight black hair and yellow eyes that gleamed in the dark like two twinkling stars. Strangely enough, he was dressed in blue-striped P.J.s and wore light blue slippers on his feet. In his hand, he clutched a large white sack weighted down by something inside.

The man gazed down at the teenage hero as he slept. He reached inside of his bag and pulled out a pinch of sparkling white sand-like stuff out of it. Gently, he sprinkled the sand onto Joey's head; as the sand struck it, it absorbed itself into his head.

Joey winced and started muttering in his sleep, "No…no…"

* * *

_Joey was standing in the middle of the street in a different city from Domino. All around him, people were dashing the opposite way down the street, screaming out in horror and clutching protectively onto their children._

_A laser beam suddenly fired down from the sky and landed only a few feet away from Joey, forming a small crater in the road. Joey jumped away and looked up in the direction the beam came from. _

_Floating above the ground was a wild-looking man with red hair that stuck out all over the place wearing dark goggles, a long black lab coat, blue men's shirt and black jeans. On his back was a jet pack that spurted out intense flames as it kept the guy hovering up above the people, and in his hands was a large, silver gun-like object which, Joey guessed, had fired the laser._

_The man tilted his head back and let out a roar of wild laughter. "Yes, mere mortals! Run! Scream! Fear your new leader of this formerly free world!" _

_"Not so fast!" a feminine voice cried out. _

_Joey looked up behind him and saw a young girl hovering on a blue-glowing silver stand-up scooter above the street. Her black hair blew wildly around her face, and red-tinted sunglasses covered up her eyes. She wore a skin-tight bright pink mini-dress with yellow stripes running down its sides and knee-high white boots. _

_"Ooh, I'm so scared," the mad scientist laughed. "It's a little girly-girl on a floating scooter! Someone help me, please!"_

_The girl smiled sweetly at the scientist. Red beams suddenly shot out of her eyes and blasted directly into his shoulder. _

_He screamed and clutched at his shoulder as it emitted tiny streams of grey smoke. Snarling, he pointed the laser-beam gun at her and said, "Say goodbye, girly-girl."_

_Right when he fired another beam, however, the girl floated up in the air on her scooter and fired more laser beams down at him from her eyes. _

_The man and girl started firing wildly at one another, the lasers only narrowly each other as they flew around in a circle._

_For some reason, as Joey watched the two battle, he became a tad bit nervous, but he couldn't understand why. _

_Finally, the man decided to change his tactics. He reached into his coat and pulled out what appeared to be a water gun. Upon firing, however, what came out was a wad of a sticky, gum-like substance which expanded, covered the girl entirely from the neck down, and splattered her into a building. She tried desperately to break free, but the stuff, whatever it was, held fast._

_Joey drew in a fearful breath. "No…" he whispered to himself. He tried to move towards the girl, but his feet were practically frozen to the street, and when he attempted to fire out magic, only a tiny green spark came out which fizzled instantly._

_The mad scientist grinned and flew up to the girl. He pointed the laser gun at her and let the tip of it glow with red laser light. "Say bye-bye, girly-girl."_

_"NOOO!" Joey screamed out._

* * *

"No, no, no…" Joey murmured. He tossed and turned in his sleep, wildly trying to throw punches and such out at some invisible being.

The guy watched him for a moment, and then vanished into thin air.

* * *

For once, instead of pulling an all-nighter, Kaiba slept quietly in his bed and, for the only time in the 24 hours of the day, didn't have a perpetual scowl on his face. The dark-haired see-through man appeared at the side of his white-sheeted bed. Once again he reached inside of his bag, pulled out a pinch of the sand, and sprinkled it onto his forehead.

The scowl reappeared.

* * *

_Kaiba casually walked through the front doors of Kaiba Corp, dressed in his white suit with light blue shirt and blue tie, and approached the nearby elevator when suddenly his assistant Roland ran up to him and yelled out, "Excuse me, kid, but this building is specifically for Kaiba Corp employees only!"_

_Kaiba glared angrily at him and replied, "Talk to me like that again and you're fired, Roland."_

_"Fired?" Roland laughed out loud. "Sorry, pest, but only the C.E.O. of Kaiba Corp can fire me."_

_"Yes. Right. Me. Remember?" Kaiba cocked an eyebrow, baffled and angered by employee's attitude._

_"Yeah, sure. Nice try, kid." Roland pulled a walkie-talkie out of his pocket and spoke into it, "Get security down here; we've got some teenage guy trying to get to the C.E.O.'s office."_

_"What?!" Kaiba cried out._

_At that moment, the elevator doors opened and Mokuba stepped out of them. Kaiba looked over at him and said, "Mokuba, please remind our brain-dead employee who exactly I am."_

_Mokuba stared at him. "Um, sure…but who are you?"_

_Kaiba stared. Coming from his little brother, he knew this wasn't just some bizarre joke. "You…don't know me?" he said._

_At that moment, security guys dressed in black suits and sunglasses came around the corner. Roland pointed at Kaiba and said, "Remove this young man from the premises."_

_Kaiba looked over at the men, then back at the elevator Mokuba had just stepped out of. Its doors were just about to close._

_Kaiba dashed into the elevator; before the doors closed completely, he heard Roland scream out, "Get that kid!" _

_Kaiba quickly pressed the button for his office's floor and tapped his foot impatiently as the elevator slowly rose upwards._

_Once the elevator stopped and the doors opened, he dashed out of it and ran down the hallway towards his office. However, before he could reach it, a crowd of security guards and even a few of his secretaries with multi-colored hair came out from around the corner and yelled out, "Hey you!"_

_"Oh, great," Kaiba said, horrified. "My entire company has turned against me."_

_The guards and secretaries charged towards him._

* * *

An extremely angered look overtook Kaiba's face. The man watched him for a second, then vanished once more.

Téa slept peacefully in her bedroom, clad in her pink pajamas. The dark-haired man appeared by the side of her bed and once again took out some sand which he lightly sprinkled onto her forehead.

She stirred slightly in her sleep.

* * *

"_Téa…" she heard a voice whisper._

_Téa slowly opened her eyes. She sat up in bed and looked around the room; seeing no one there, she called out, "Hello?"_

_The side wall of her bedroom suddenly vanished, revealing a romantic living room with a long red chaise longue in the center that someone was lying on. The only light in the room came from the dozens of small candles all around it, leaving the person's face shrouded in shadow. He was wearing a black jacket, blue shirt and black pants._

_Téa got out of bed and stared at the room. "Wha-" she said._

_"Hello, my love," the person said. He got up from the chaise longue and walked towards the edge of the room, keeping his face in the dark._

_Téa suddenly felt her clothing transform. She looked down and saw that her pink PJs had become a floor-length pink evening gown with white slippers and a necklace with a small, pink stone. _

_"You look beautiful," the man gently whispered to her._

_As though they weren't even attached to her mind, Téa's feet walked her right over to the guy. He gently put his arms around her waist, giving her a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. She placed her arms around his._

_"My sapphire-eyed beauty…" he whispered. "I wish I could hold you like this forever…"_

_Téa smiled softly. "Me too," she murmured._

_Téa and the man slowly leaned together and allowed their lips to touch in a passionate kiss._

* * *

Téa turned over in her bed and smiled. The man disappeared from her room.

Finally, the man appeared at the side of Yugi Muto's bed. He quietly lay in his bed, the Millennium Puzzle sitting by the side of his pillow. The man once again sprinkled sparkling sand onto the sleeper's forehead.

Yugi's face winced.

* * *

_Yugi found himself standing in the streets of a familiar city. He glanced up at the towering skyscrapers which glittered underneath the moon's full light and saw the silhouette of a dragon soar past it._

This is Kingrah,_ Yugi thought to himself,_ but what am I doing here?

_Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him. He turned around mechanically and saw a rather thuggish looking teenager behind him. He was a rather burly guy with spiky brown hair and narrowed, dark, beady eyes. He wore black leather clothing and his outlines glowed with red, blazing magic. _

_"Well, well, well, look who's here," the burly guy grinned. "It's the nice little punching bag."_

_Yugi stared at them. He had been bullied quite a lot before, but he certainly didn't remember encountering any guys like this._

_"Thanks for coming out tonight, little boy," the burly guy replied. He cracked his knuckles together. "I was hoping to have some fun."_

_Moving without even really controlling his body, Yugi turned and bolted down the street. Behind him, he heard the running footsteps and cruel laughter of the thug behind him._

_"You can run all you want, little boy," Yugi heard the guy's voice yell, "but you'll never be able to hide!"_

_Yugi continued running and kept his eyes straight ahead of him._

_Suddenly, his foot slipped on a small stone in the road. He screamed as he fell towards the ground in what seemed like slow-motion…_

* * *

Yugi bolted upwards in his bed. He breathed out heavily and sweat trickled down his forehead. "What was that…" he whispered.

Suddenly, he heard a scream of terror in the bedroom. A dark-haired man dressed in blue-striped PJs appeared at the side of Yugi's bed, staring in horror at one corner of the room.

From that corner, another person suddenly appeared. This one had black hair, except for one dyed red stripe running through it, with rather long bangs that went past his midnight-black eyes. He wore a black leather jacket, black jeans, and a red T-shirt with the word _Nightmare _written in black letters on its front.

He grinned and formed an orb of black magic in his hands. "Good night for all eternity, sandman," he said, the words practically slithering out of his mouth.

The PJ-clad guy looked at Yugi and cried, "Please help!"

The man with red-stripped hair fired the orb at him.

Without a second thought, Yugi held out his hand and created a force field around the PJ guy which absorbed the black orb. He then fired out his own blue magic, slamming the villain into the wall.

The guy opened his eyes and glared angrily at Yugi, then vanished into thin air.

The man in the blue-striped PJs turned to Yugi and bowed. "Thank you, hero," he said.

"You're welcome, but who exactly are you?" Yugi asked.

He smiled and replied, "I'm a sandman. And no, before you ask, this isn't a dream."


	2. Chapter One: The Sandman

Chapter One: The Sandman

Yugi stared at the guy in blue-striped pajamas who'd appeared and proclaimed that he was a sandman. True, he'd had plenty of encounters with other magical creatures like sirens, Medusas, gods, and shape-shifters which lowered some of his disbelief in such things, but even this seemed a little ridiculous.

"You're the sandman?" Yugi said incredulously.

"No, not _the _sandman," the guy shook his head. "_A_ sandman. Dormiro's the name. There are thousands of us out there in the many different worlds, all of whom work for only one purpose: to deliver the necessary dreams to the citizens using our magic-enhanced sand." He reached into his sack and pulled out a handful of white, glittering sand.

_That certainly does have strong magical properties,_ the Pharaoh told Yugi telepathically, _even if it does look like normal sand._

Yugi took some of the sand into his hand and rolled it around a bit. "Hmm," he said. "So this is the stuff that makes us dream."

"Yes, but be careful with that," Dormiro said. "You don't want to risk spilling more than a pinch onto yourself."

"Why not?" Yugi asked.

Dormiro's eyes strayed away from Yugi and he drawled out, "Uhh…you don't want to know."

Suddenly, Yugi heard soft footsteps coming down the hallway. "Oh, no, my Grandpa's coming!" Dormiro quickly let himself turn invisible again and Yugi slammed back down onto his pillow, shut his eyes, and tried to feign sleeping.

He heard the door of his bedroom slowly creak open. "Yugi?" he heard his grandpa's voice whisper.

Yugi slowly opened his eyes and sat up, trying to look as tired as he could for his grandfather. "Grandpa?" he murmured. "What are you doing up?"

He let out a rather loud yawn. "I had a bad nightmare, that's all." He looked around the room. "I'm sorry I woke you, but I could have sworn you were talking to someone in here."

Yugi shook his head. "No, Grandpa. I must have just been talking in my sleep. I do that sometimes."

"All right, well, you go back to sleep." He slowly pulled the door shut and whispered as he did, "Good night, Yugi."

"Good night, Grandpa," Yugi murmured.

As soon as his grandfather left, Yugi quickly sat up in bed. He couldn't believe he'd just said a bold-faced lie to Grandpa. Then again, he couldn't exactly say, "I woke up and had to keep one of the sandmen from getting blown to pieces with my force field"-his Grandpa would probably have had him committed.

_Strange_, Yugi thought. _He used to be someone I could always talk to about our odd adventures…and now…_

Yugi didn't have time to dwell on this, for Dormiro reappeared in front of him and said, "That was a bit close for comfort, huh. Well, I have others whom I need to send to the dream world. Would it be quite all right if I returned to you in the morning once the daylight has come?"

"Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Oh, yes, don't worry. That man-Nightmare's his name-has rather weak magic; he'll remain incapacitated for the rest of the night after the blow you dealt to him. And besides, it would probably be better if all of your hero allies heard this; my destruction could have vast affects on them as well."

Yugi stared at Dormiro. "How do you know my friends have powers?"

Dormiro laughed. "Haven't had magic for all that long, have you? If you did you'd know that all magical creatures of one world are well aware of the other gifted ones there-after all, revealing ourselves to the non-magical would create quite a calamity, wouldn't it?"

And with a final laugh, Dormiro vanished once more.

* * *

Back in the Dimension of the Gods, Nightmare was inside of his pad far off in the woods of the world. The entire place remained in near darkness even in the daytime due to the thick black curtains which completely covered all of the windows. The only sources of light came from candles placed in various corners of the room. The rather messy place was decorated with all sorts of creepy knick-knacks, from the posters of emo rock bands and horror flicks and African masks all along the walls to the bearskin rug which still had its mouth wide open and snarling.

Nightmare himself stood at a gothic sink in the corner, washing off the space where Yugi had blasted him with magic with a black cloth. "Darn it…" he muttered angrily to himself, wincing a little as he pressed the cloth against his injuries. "It was just a sandman…easy target! No magic but the accursed sand in its sack! Should've been able to take him down in a matter of seconds! But no…" he snarled. "I had to find him right when he was at the house of some hot-shot hero!" He threw the cloth down into the sink and clutched the sides of it furiously. "Of all the accursed luck…"

He stood there for a moment heaving deep breaths of anger. Suddenly, though, he paused for one moment. "Say…a hero…" A plan started forming in his head. "Perhaps once I get my hands on that sandman's magic…I could use it to take down that little brat and any other friends he's got…" His eyes 

flashed with delight. "Yeah…taking down the defenders of a dimension…I'd get worldwide recognition for that! It wouldn't matter if my powers aren't even close to Spencer's or former king Resheph's…I'd be seen as a hero!" He paused. "Well, an anti-hero, but whatever."

He grinned with delight and quickly picked the washcloth back up and pressed it onto his injury. With his renewed determination, the blast wound didn't hurt nearly as much as it had before.

"Look out, punk," Nightmare said to himself, "because you're about to meet your worst imaginable nightmare."


	3. Chapter Two: Your Deepest Secrets

Chapter Two: Your Deepest Secrets

"A sandman?" Kaiba said to Yugi. "What kind of insanity is this?"

The teen heroes were, for once, sitting inside of Yugi's living room instead of their typical hangout at the abandoned warehouse since the sandman would be more likely to return there. Luckily Yugi's Grandpa needed to go out on some errands, so they wouldn't have to risk somebody walking in on them using magic. Now Yugi and Téa sat on the couch, Joey and Tristan on the armchairs, Bakura on one of the arms of the couch, and Kaiba simply leaned up against the wall.

"It's strange, I know, but it definitely felt real," Yugi said. "He even specifically said that I wasn't dreaming."

"Right, of course," Kaiba rolled his eyes. "So it most definitely couldn't just have been a part of some fantasy of yours."

"Ey, don't be so fast ta dismiss im!" Joey yelled at Kaiba. "An besides, don't cha tink it's kinda obvious ta tell when you're dreamin' or not?"

"I dunno," Tristan replied, "since you usually act out your dreams, I'd think you'd never be able to tell whether or not you actually at that feast with the monkey king and his loyal subjects."

Joey only got halfway across the room before Yugi and Téa each got a hold of one of his arms and held him back from choking Tristan.

"For your information, man," Joey yelled at Tristan, "I don't always have stupid dreams like dat! Last night I had some freaky dream about dis superhero girl fightin' against some mad scientist creep!"

"No, of course that's not stupid," Kaiba muttered to himself.

"Another super?" Yugi asked. "Are you sure it was just a dream?"

Joey paused. "I dunno…de dream itself felt like it was a dream…but de feelings I had towards de girl made it seem like she wasn't just part of a dream…does dat make sense?"

"Does anything you ever say make sense?" Kaiba asked.

Joey snapped at him, "Was I talkin' ta you?"

"Okay, that's enough, you two," a voice suddenly said from one corner of the room. "None of this fighting is going to help you stop that Nightmare freak."

A glowing-white portal appeared where the voice had come from. Out of it stepped a young man who looked similar to the Pharaoh, save for his orange-tan skin, wearing a sleeveless black shirt, short blue cape, blue pants with blue boots at the bottom, and black belts with silver studs around his neck and waist. Once he'd come through, the portal vanished behind him.

"Spencer?" Yugi said. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, there's a sandman around that asked for your assistance, isn't there?" Spencer said. "All sandmen and sandwomen are residents from our world. We specifically send them out so that people can receive their necessary dreams."

"'Necessary'?" Tristan said.

Spencer blinked. "Um, yes-don't you know that dreams are absolutely critical things for one to have? Dreams are revelations that stem from your deepest subconscious-they reveal your hidden fears, your repressed desires, the hidden solutions to your problems which just haven't been able to reveal themselves while you're awake…and, occasionally, they go beyond all of that to reveal the future or maybe even connect to someone else's dreams."

"Connect to someone else's?" Tristan shuddered. "I don't even want to imagine entering some dream with Joey and his monkeys."

"Why not?" Joey grinned. "You'd fit right in wit dem."

With Yugi and Téa still keeping a hold on Joey, Tristan had no hard time getting up and pounding him right in the face. The two soon got involved in another brawl, rolling around on the floor as the others sighed.

Dormiro appeared from thin air in the corner Spencer had just come from. He stared down at the two teens battling and asked, "Um…is this a bad time?"

The others looked up at him. "No, no, of course not," Spencer replied. "Do come in."

Joey and Tristan quickly got up off of the floor and cleared the way for the sandman to be able to walk to the couch and sit down.

"Now then, tell us," Yugi said, "why exactly is this Nightmare person attacking you?"

"Well, once upon a time Nightmare himself was an actual sandman," he replied. "However, he soon became tired of being one of the, um, 'lesser' beings of our world and decided that instead he wanted to move up in the ranks. He made a deal with a demon to become a magical being such as King Spencer and his people, but unfortunately the demon cheated him and made him a very, very weak one. He was always getting ridiculed for his weak powers and never found acceptance within their world. Since then, the man has blamed us for getting him into such a plight and started taking all of us down, one by one."

"We've lost about a dozen of them in the last week alone," Spencer added. "And if you hadn't stopped him, Yugi, Dormiro here would have become number 13."

"You guys don't have any way ta defend yourselves whatsoever?" Joey said incredulously to the sandman.

Dormiro shook his head. "Nope. Just about all of the magic which we've got is this dream-inducing sand here," he replied, holding up his sack.

"You supposedly bring us one of the most important, fear-revealing, problem-solving items in the world, and your powers are some of the weakest in existence?" Kaiba said in disbelief. "That's just plain pathetic."

Spencer walked up to Kaiba, looked directly in his eyes, and said, "Kaiba, if you don't have anything nice to say…THEN SHUT YOUR TRAP!"

At that moment, Nightmare suddenly appeared in the room. Gauze and bandages had been placed around his wound, making the word _Nightmare _on his T-shirt become _Nightre. _His outline glowed with fiery black light. "Hello there, hero," he sneered at Yugi. "I see you've brought some of your little friends over."

The teens quickly stood up and surrounded Dormiro, letting their outlines glow with their respective shades of magic. Yugi's Millennium Puzzle glowed and the Pharaoh took over for him. "Sorry, Nightmare, but your days of destroying sandmen are over," he said.

"Destroying sandmen?" Nightmare let out a loud laugh. "No, no, no…I've moved on from picking off weaklings like them. I've decided to move on up in the world…get rid of some much more powerful beings and earn a little respect in my world…and I'll do so by getting rid of someone like, say…you!"

Nightmare suddenly vanished into thin air again. The teens quickly looked all around the room, trying to see where he was planning on appearing next.

Quick as a wink, Nightmare appeared right next to Dormiro on the couch and yanked the bag of sandman's dust right out of his hands.

The Pharaoh whipped around and cried out, "HEY!"

Before they could grab him, however, Nightmare yanked a huge handful of sand out of the bag and flung it directly into the Pharaoh's face. He screamed and spat some of the white sand out of his open mouth before the rest of it absorbed itself into his body.

Suddenly, he heard an eerily familiar voice behind him: "Well, well, well…"

The teenage heroes turned around and saw, to the Pharaoh's shock, that the man from Yugi's dream had appeared in his living room.

"Isn't this nice? It's all the more fun for me!" The thug grinned and let his outline glow with more magic.

Nightmare grinned as well to see such a nasty-looking character. "Wonderful," he said with delight. "Have fun with him, heroes-he's practically a dream come true!"

And with a nasty laugh, Nightmare disappeared.


	4. Chapter Three: Dreams Come True

Chapter Three: Dreams Come True

"Uh…anybody know dis guy?" Joey asked, pointing at the thug that had appeared.

"I…I do, but…" the Pharaoh sputtered out, "he was…just a dream…"

The guy aimed his hand at the Pharaoh and fired out a ray of red magic. He quickly responded by putting up his hand and forming a force field which absorbed the blast.

"He seems pretty real to me, man," Tristan said.

Joey let his outline glow with green magic. "Awright, whoever you are-you mess wit one of us, you mess wit all of us!"

"Joey, WAIT!" Spencer cried, but it was too late-he sent an orb of green magic out which blasted the guy in the chest directly and sent him falling to the floor.

"AH!" The Pharaoh winced and also suddenly fell onto the ground, clutching at the exact same spot where Joey had just blasted the dream thug.

Spencer quickly knelt down beside him and asked, "Are you all right?"

The Pharaoh nodded. "Yes…but I just felt something hit me…it was almost like magic…"

The thug prepared to fire at the Pharaoh again, but he quickly put up another force field, this one trapping the guy inside of it. He angrily pounded on the walls of the field and yelled out, "Hey! Let me out of this thing, you little brat!"

"Aw, shut up!" Spencer yelled at him. He held out one hand over the Pharaoh's injury and let it glow with golden magic. The injury glowed with gold as well, then slowly faded away into nothingness-as did the injury on the thug.

"What de heck is goin' on here?" Joey cried out, staring from the Pharaoh to the thug.

"Joey, that guy is connected to your friends here because he's from their dream," Spencer replied. "You mess with him, you mess with Yugi and the Pharaoh as well."

Horrified, Joey quickly helped his friend to his feet and said, "Oh, man…I'm sorry, Yug…"

The Millennium Puzzle glowed with golden light and Yugi reappeared. "It's okay, Joey, you couldn't have know," he replied.

"Okay, so if we can't blast this guy away, then how in the world are we supposed to get rid of him?" Kaiba asked, folding his arms.

Nightmare suddenly appeared from behind him. He looked back at the thug in the force field and snarled, "You've got him locked away already?!" He shook his head. "All right, so you people can handle one dream easily-but let's see how well you can do with another."

He reached into the bag and flung out another handful of sand, this one slamming Kaiba right in the face. The sand absorbed itself right into him.

From behind him suddenly appeared a bunch of Kaiba Corp security guards and secretaries. "Awright, whoever you are, it's about time you got outta here!" one of them cried out, pointing directly at Kaiba

"And for extra good measure…" Nightmare continued. He hurled the bag around and managed to hit Joey and Téa with more of the magic sand. He grinned and said, "That should be enough. I'll be back for you imbeciles later."

The sand slowly absorbed itself into Joey and Téa.

A laser beam blasted right through the living room wall, sending pieces of it and dust flying everywhere. In through the hole flew a mad scientist guy wearing goggles and a black lab coat with an ignited jet pack on his back, followed by a young girl flying on a blue-glowing scooter with black hair wearing red-tinted glasses and a pink and yellow mini dress.

"This is it, girly-girl; your time is up!" the mad scientist cried.

"Not on my watch, you creep!" the girl replied.

The guys stared up in horror as the two started flying around the room and firing laser beams back and forth at one another, him from a silver gun in his hands and her from her very own eyes.

Téa suddenly felt her clothing shift on her body. She looked down and saw to her horror that she was wearing the evening gown from last night's dream. "Oh no…" she whispered.

The other wall of the living room disappeared, revealing the candlelit room with the same shadowy guy lounging on the settee. "Hello, Téa," the guy whispered.

Now everyone's gaze turned towards him, then at Téa, whose face had become a fierce shade of red. Joey angrily cried out, "Why don't I ever get ta have some dream wit a girl dat's got de hots for me?!"

Yugi quickly shot out his hands, creating force fields around the Kaiba Corp employees, the mad scientist and heroic girl, and the entrance to the romantic room. He turned to the sandman and asked, "We really can't keep these people here in my house for much longer-isn't there any way which we could get rid of them?"

"There's only one way to get rid of one's dreams," the sandman replied. "You have to figure out exactly what the meaning is behind them. Once your problem or desire has been brought out into the open, it can't live in that subconscious area of your mind anymore."

"Let me get this straight-in order to win against this guy, we have to go to sleep?" Kaiba asked incredulously. "That's absolutely ridiculous!"

"Well, since when have some things pertaining to dreams ever made sense?" Spencer replied.


	5. Chapter Four: Behind the Dreams

Chapter Four: Behind the Dreams

The four dream affected people chose spots to lay down in the living room: Kaiba and Téa each took one of the arm chairs, and Yugi and Joey lay on opposite sides of the couch.

"I still say this is a terrible idea," Kaiba said.

"Kaiba, chill," Spencer said. "While you four are sleeping, Tristan, Bakura, and I will be standing right here in front of you, ready to defend you as best we can against whatever's coming your way. In the meantime, you four shall be free to carry out your dreams to the end, and once you wake up, I'll be there to help you interpret them if you need such services. Okay?"

"Of course," Kaiba said, rolling his eyes. "Now I feel so much better."

"Oh, go to sleep already," Spencer snapped.

Folding his arms, Kaiba glared at Spencer for one moment, and then let his eyes slowly shut.

"Goodnight, Yug," Joey said, lying down and shutting his eyes.

"You too, Joey, and good luck," Yugi replied. He too lay down and fell asleep on the couch.

"Now, to ensure that they have dreams…" The sandman reached down his pajama front and pulled out a small sack. He reached inside and out came a tiny pinch of magic sand. "I've always got some extra with me, just in case," he told the others.

First, Dormiro walked up to Joey and sprinkled a pinch of sand on him. His face winced and he murmured, "No…no…"

* * *

_"No, STOP!" Joey cried out. The heroic girl was again firmly stuck to the building thanks to the mad scientist's gum-like substance around her. Once again, the guy was hovering in front of the girl, aiming his laser gun right at her._

_The mad scientist didn't appear to hear him. He looked right at the heroine, smiled sweetly, and said to her, "Bye bye, girly girl."_

_Joey closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to look. He waited any moment for the poor girl to scream out in horror._

_Instead, he heard the mad scientist's voice cry, "What the-" _

_Joey slowly opened one eye and cautiously peered upwards._

_He saw that the man's silver gun had floated right out of his hands, glowing with the same blue light that had surrounded the girl's scooter. From behind her glasses, Joey could just see that her eyes were emitting that same blue light._

_The girl smiled sweetly at the mad scientist, then shut her eyes tight._

_The gun smashed into thousands of pieces which collapsed onto the ground, the light around them fading away._

_"NO! MY LASER GUN!" the scientist cried out in horror. He turned and hovered down towards his pieces, staring at them in absolute shock._

_Seeing her opportunity, the girl quickly fired a red laser beam out at the guy's jet pack. It emitted a few small sparks of electricity, and without warning, started flying all over the place, taking the mad scientist along with it._

_The scientist screamed as he jerked every which way towards the sky; then, once he'd gotten past the tops of the buildings, the girl let her eyes glow with blue light again, this time aiming them at the scientist. _

_"Bye bye," she called up to him sweetly._

_She jerked her head forwards. The guy went flying through the air, past the city tops and all the way out of sight._

_Joey stared up at the girl in absolute shock. "You..." he murmured._

_For the first time, the girl actually noticed him. She smiled and, using her laser vision, cut herself down from the scientist's sticky trap. _

_Once she'd managed to pull the rest of the stuff off of her, she brushed herself off and walked all the way up to Joey. Happily, she reached up and pulled off her glasses and, apparently, her black wig, revealing long, red hair._

_"Serenity?" Joey cried out._

_Serenity smiled and said to him, "See, Joey? I'm okay. You don't need to worry about me anymore."_

* * *

Joey slowly opened his eyes. He looked up at the ceiling and saw the heroic girl and mad scientist vanish, their dream having been fully carried out.

Tristan, Bakura, Spencer, and the sand man looked down at him. "Well?" Spencer asked.

Joey sat up and murmured, "Dat girl…she was Serenity, my sister…" He looked down. "I guess since she'd become super-powered, too, I was worryin' dat sometin' would happen ta her, but…" He smiled. "I guess dat dream was a way of provin' me wrong."

Spencer nodded. "Most excellent," he said. He looked back at the sandman and said, "Next?"

Dormiro nodded and walked up to Kaiba. He reached inside of the pouch and sprinkled a little bit more of the magic sand onto his forehead.

* * *

_Kaiba found himself standing in the elevator again, on his way up to the floor where his office stood. When he felt the elevator stop, however, instead of running right out of it, he waited until he heard the footsteps of the guards and secretaries nearby. Then, he hit the 'Door Close' button and pressed himself against the elevator wall and out of their sight._

_He listened as they ran right past the elevators, with the lead guard yelling out, "C'mon, he can't get too far in this place!"_

_Once their footsteps faded away, Kaiba quickly pressed the 'Door Open' button and bolted out of the elevator. He ran down the hallway all the way up to his office door and, with no one to stop him, slammed it open._

_Inside, he saw that the chair at his desk had been turned around so that Kaiba couldn't see who was in it. Angrily, he walked right up to the desk and yelled out, "Okay, who are you and how'd you take over my company?!"_

_The chair spun around. Kaiba stared at its occupant in shock._

_Sitting at his desk was his hybrid form with the Blue Eyes White Dragon essence. _

_The Kaiba/Blue Eyes dragon shook his head at Kaiba and replied, "You let me take over, Seto. It had to happen once you gave in to the geek squad."_

* * *

Kaiba was jolted awake by this. He looked back and saw the security guards and secretaries vanish into thin air.

Spencer looked at him and asked, "Well?"

Kaiba stared straight ahead of him in shock and barely managed to say, "It was myself…my Blue Eyes self…he was the one that took over…but what…"

Piecing together what the security guard had said and what Kaiba had just spoken, Spencer smiled at him and said, "Well, it's obvious what the dream means, Kaiba-you've finally allowed your 

magical side to make its way into your life, and based upon what happened in your dream, that magical half is pretty much here to stay. Your non-believing self is a distant memory."

Joey covered his mouth and snickered. "Kaiba believes in magic…" he muttered with glee.

Kaiba turned to him and snapped, "Whether or not I believe in it, I still think it's complete and total insanity, and that you're crazy for accepting it easily!"

Spencer sighed. "Whatever you say, dragon boy," he muttered.

While they'd been talking, Dormiro had walked over to Téa and sprinkled some of his magic sand on her. Now the others turned and watched as a smile slowly crept onto her face.

* * *

_Téa was standing in her bedroom again, facing the man who stood at the edge of the very romantic room that had appeared from behind her wall. She walked over to him, not giving as much attention to herself when the pink evening gown appeared, and allowed him to gently wrap his arms around her waist. A warm, fuzzy feeling spread throughout her body._

_The man held her close and murmured, "Téa…"_

_She smiled as the sound of his voice speaking her name. Slowly the two leaned their faces to each other, closed their eyes, and kissed. Téa's entire body tingled with delight as their lips came together in that tender gesture of love. She felt it slowly glow with soft, pink light._

_Smiling, the two slowly pulled away from one another. The man was emitting blue magical light from his body, illuminating his face at last._

_It was the Pharaoh._

* * *

Téa slowly opened her eyes. Her pink gown had transformed back into her normal clothes, and the romantic room vanished, once again becoming a normal living room wall.

"Mornin' , Téa," Joey grinned at her. "So who was your dream dude?"

Téa snapped at him, "None of your business!" Spencer noticed, however, that as she spoke, her eyes strayed for a moment towards the still sleeping Yugi.

"Téa, may I please speak to you for a moment?" he asked her. He looked at the others and said, "Keep an eye on Yugi; we'll be right back."

He gently took Téa's hand, helped her up from the arm chair, and guided her out of the room.

* * *

Spencer took Téa up into Yugi's room and shut the door behind them. He looked at her and smiled, "Which one is it?"

"What do you mean?" Téa asked, her face still slightly red.

"I saw you look over at them when Joey asked who your mystery man was," Spencer replied. "Now, c'mon, Yugi or the Pharaoh?"

Téa looked down at the ground. She couldn't bring herself to speak.

"If you're worried about me teasing you, don't," Spencer said. "Love is nature's most powerful and incredible emotion, not something that's begging to be laughed at. Which is why I'm not going to tell those two not entirely sensitive boys down there-I swear upon the gods to that."

Téa slowly looked back up at him and murmured, "Both. As one."

"Hmm, well, that's understandable," Spencer said. "From what I've seen and heard about, Yugi is quite sweet and friendly, Pharaoh is brave and a natural leader, and both of them have been found rather handsome in their own ways." He grinned. "It's like having two of the world's most desired guys all wrapped up into one package."

Téa gave a small smile. "Yeah, it is…" she whispered.

"So, then, if you feel this way for them, why have you chosen to keep said feelings banished into some subconscious corner of your mind?"

Téa's smile vanished. She murmured, "It's never really been a good time…we've always been caught up in saving the world from some sort of evil…and we've always just been hanging around one another as friends…and since that's been happening more than ever now that we're guardians of our dimension…" She sighed sadly. "It just looks like it's impossible."

Spencer smiled gently at her. "Téa, hon, there have been lots of supers with deeper kinds of relationships formed amongst themselves, and if they're truly meant to be, they've managed to stay together no matter what. And believe it or not, lots of lovers have started out as 'just friends'."

Téa stared up at him. "So…you mean there could be hope?"

Spencer nodded. "Absolutely. If it's meant to be, then somehow, someday, I can fully assure you that fate will bring the two of you together."

Téa's face turned pink again. "Thank you…I know you must not exactly be thrilled with talking about 'girl stuff', but…"

"Téa, I'm well aware of your lack of female friends problem. Trust me, I'm more than happy to be a substitute of sorts."

She laughed. "Thanks, Spencer."

Suddenly, someone pounded on the door to Yugi's room. "Guys?! You in dere?!" Joey's voice called out.

Spencer walked over to the door and pulled it open, revealing a very freaked-out Joey standing in the hallway, his fist raised to pound on the door again.

"Wheeler, you look like you've seen a ghost," Spencer cried. "What's wrong?"

"Wellll…I've got some bad news and some really bad news."

Both Spencer and Téa stared at him. "Okay, let's work our way down," Spencer sighed. "What's the bad news?"

"Someting's wrong; no matter how much sand Dormiro sprinkles onta Yug, he just can't send im off into dream land."

"What?" Spencer cried out. "That can't be!"

"It is, man, and we have absolutely no clue why."

"Oh, no…" Téa murmured. "How are we going to get rid of that thug if Yugi can't even dream about him?"

"What's the really bad news?" Spencer asked.

"Bakura just had a vision. Yugi's Grandpa is comin' home."

"Why's that 'really bad news'?"

"'Cause he's gonna come inta de house in one minute-and when I say one minute, I mean _one minute!"_


	6. Chapter Five: NotsoSweet Dreams

Chapter Five: Not-so-Sweet Dreams

Spencer stared at him in absolute horror for one moment. He quickly cried out, "Okay, you guys go back downstairs and into the living room. Watch over Yugi and that thug, and do whatever the heck you can to get Yug to dream and the creep to go away already."

"What are you going to do?" Téa asked.

"I'm going to stall and make sure he _does not_ get even a glance into that living room."

"And how exactly are ya gonna do dat?" Joey cried.

"I'll wing it. Now LET'S GO!"

Joey and Téa dashed downstairs back to the living room while Spencer transformed into a shower of gold sparks and soared closely to the floor all the way downstairs, through the Game Shop, and out of the place. He flew to the back of Yugi's home and quickly transformed back into a supposed normal human.

"Think, Spencer…" he muttered urgently to himself. "How the heck are you going to convince him to do as you say?"

At that moment, however, he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps approaching the place. "Oh no…" he murmured, knowing it just had to be Yugi's Grandpa. He looked up at the sky and said, "Dear gods, please help me here!"

Trying to act casual, he walked around to the front of the shop and stared deeply into the store window. At that moment, Yugi's Grandpa came up the street carrying shopping bags in his arms.

Spencer stole a quick glance at him. He could definitely tell this was Yugi's grandfather, what with him also being rather vertically challenged and with the same striking violet eyes. "Excuse me, but are you the owner of this shop?" he asked as the elder one approached.

The man glanced up at him and said, "Yes."

"Well, there's nothing around which says this place is closed, so I'm wondering why the heck the door is locked."

Grandpa stared at the man, then at the front door of the shop. "Did I forget to put up the 'closed' sign?" He sighed. "Wonderful…" He glanced down at the pocket of his overalls and muttered to himself, "Agh, how do I get those keys out now…"

"Here, let me help you," Spencer replied. He took one of the bags up into his own hands, giving Grandpa a free hand to get the key and open the door.

"Thank you," Grandpa said, walking inside with Spencer close behind him. "It's so rare to find a helpful teenager these days."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that…" Spencer murmured to himself, thinking of Yugi and his friends.

"What?" Grandpa asked.

"Uh, nothing," Spencer quickly replied.

Grandpa set his bags down onto the Game Shop counter and suddenly let out a loud yawn. "Why didn't I get more sleep last night…I'm so dead tired…"

Spencer nearly jumped at suddenly hearing this, but he quickly contained his excitement and simply replied, "Oh? Was it a rather busy night in the shop?"

"No, no, we're not open that late," Grandpa laughed. "I just had a rather…undesirable dream." He yawned again and murmured, "I'm surprised I was even able to walk down to the store without passing out…"

"Sir, please, you need your sleep!" Spencer cried. He placed his hands onto Grandpa's shoulders and gently guided him around the counter to the entrance to the house part of the place. "Why don't you go upstairs and get your rest?"

As they walked inside, Spencer quickly shifted to Grandpa's left side and blocked his view of the living room. "I don't know if I should be going to bed right now…" Grandpa murmured.

Spencer stole a glance into the living room to see Yugi still lying down on the couch, the others staring down at him hopefully, and a regenerated hand of Tristan's covering up the mouth of the thug to prevent him from crying out. "No, no, sir, this is a perfect time. Trust me."

Spencer guided him up the stairs and into his bedroom. He made Grandpa lie down onto his bed and said, "C'mon, now, you shut those eyes and rest."

Too tired to argue, Grandpa Muto murmured, "All right, all right…I'm just nervous, though, that that horrible dream will come back again…"

"Did you get through the entirety of the dream?"

Grandpa blinked. "No…"

"Why don't you try to do that, and then maybe you could put some sort of interpretation behind the dream," Spencer replied. "Once you figure out what the hey's behind it, maybe that could make it stop."

Grandpa stared up at him. "Hmm…never considered that before…I think I'll try it…" He slowly closed his eyes and almost immediately fell into a deep sleep.

"And now, just to be careful…" Spencer snapped his fingers and once again transformed into thousands of gold sparks which soared down through the floor and back into the living room. Once he'd 

transformed back into a human, he looked at Dormiro and said, "Bro, I need to borrow a little bit of your magic sand."

"Yes, of course, your highness," Dormiro replied. He held out his smaller sack and let Spencer reach inside and pull out a little bit of sparkling white sand.

Spencer hurriedly zapped himself back into sparks which soared upstairs and into Yugi's grandfather's room. He gently sprinkled the sand down onto Grandpa's forehead. "There," he nodded. "That should keep him out for a while."

Suddenly, he heard a cry come from the downstairs living room. He quickly zapped himself back downstairs and saw that everyone was staring down at Yugi, who was wincing in his sleep.

"He's dreamin'! He's dreamin'!" Joey cried out excitedly.

"Joey, careful! We can't wake Yug's Grandpa up!" Spencer whispered to him.

"Oh, sorry," Joey said. He lowered his voice to an excited whisper and said, "He's dreamin'! He's dreamin'!"

* * *

_Yugi was running down the streets of Kingrah against his will once more, trying desperately to get away from the thug that was chasing him. Once again, he suddenly slipped on a stone and found himself falling to the ground._

_Yugi quickly tried to get up, but a foot slammed down onto his back and held him down to the ground._

_The thug laughed and said, "Now, then, let's have some fun, little boy." He used his foot to turn Yugi over._

_Now Yugi's arm suddenly rose up and fired out a beam of magic at the guy's face. To Yugi's shock, however, the magic was a much lighter shade of blue than his own._

_The guy flew backwards down the street and onto the ground. He slowly sat up and rubbed the back of his head._

Yes! _Yugi heard a voice cry out which, though it came from his head, wasn't his own._

_Suddenly, however, two showers of red sparks came soaring down from the sky onto either side of the thug. The showers transformed themselves into a lanky guy with long, black hair and a pretty blond girl with a rather cruel smile. Both of them were also clad in black leather._

_The other two helped the guy up. All three glared nastily at Yugi, letting their outlines glow with red magic._

_"Get him," the center thug snarled._

* * *

Back in the real world, the teens suddenly heard a noise coming from behind them. They turned around and saw to their horror that two more characters, supposedly from Yugi's dream as well, had appeared on either side of the trapped thug.

The lanky guy looked past them to see Yugi sleeping on the couch and said to the other thug, "He-hey, boss, whaddya want us ta do with him?"

The thug snarled and replied, "Crush him."

"Not good," Spencer said in horror.


	7. Chapter Six: An Undesired Ending

Chapter Six: An Undesired Ending

The two free thugs charged towards the teens, but Tristan quickly stretched out his arms and wrapped them tightly around them, trying hard not to squeeze so much that he risked hurting Yugi.

Angrily, the two started glowing with red hot magic, attempting to burn their way out of their trap. Tristan winced and cried, "Agh…I can't hold this too long…"

The others looked back at Yugi, who still had yet to wake up. "C'mon, Yug, hurry!" Joey cried out.

* * *

_Once again, against his will, Yugi turned and ran down the street. He heard the three thugs charging after him, their footsteps coming closer and closer and their laughter increasing in volume with every second._

_"Don't be so silly, little boy," Yugi heard a feminine voice say, presumably the blonde's. "You know as well as we do that no matter how fast you run, you'll never be able to get away from us!"_

_Yugi didn't respond; he just kept on running. He suddenly heard the voice say in his mind again, _Why won't this just stop? Why won't this stop?!

_Finally, the head thug formed an orb of red magic in his hands and blasted it right out at Yugi. Yugi screamed in horror as the blast slammed directly into his back and sent horrifying pain all throughout his body._

_Practically in slow motion, Yugi once again fell onto the ground. He once again felt the thug's foot slam down onto his back and hold him there. "And now," the guy said, "let's have some fun."_

_Suddenly, however, Yugi felt some sort of strange jolt go through him. He looked down and saw to his shock that he was rising right up out of what he'd thought was his body._

_However, when the thug turned him over, Yugi saw the kid he was looking down upon wore a white T-shirt with light green sleeves, blue jeans, and white sneakers. He did, however, have the same tri-colored spiky hair and violet eyes._

That kid…_Yugi thought in shock._

_He watched in horror as the three ruthlessly beat the young child up, alternating between using their own fists and feet and blasting with orbs and rays of red magic. The child squirmed and struggled to get away, but they always managed to keep him down or pull him back for more._

_Finally, with one last kick into his sides, the head thug told his friends, "Okay, I think we've had some great fun tonight, don't you?"_

_The other two nodded with sick delight._

_They leader looked down at the young boy and said, "See you next time, little guy-we've just gotta have that much fun again!" _

_And with that, the three turned and walked away from the beaten child, let out loud, chilling laughs that slowly faded into the night with them._

_Yugi stared down at the child. He heard the Pharaoh's voice say to him, _Yugi…isn't that…?

Yes, it is, _Yugi thought back, _but…

_Slowly, the kid managed to sit up. He hugged his knees tightly to his chest and started to cry. "Why, gods…" he murmured sadly, "what did I do to deserve this…"_

_Yugi sadly watched as the child sobbed, light blue magic sparks dripping down from his hands. _

_Suddenly, a familiar voice called out to the child, "Why, whatever's the matter, little guy?"_

_Yugi turned and watched in horror as Susiros walked out from an alleyway between two buildings right towards the beaten kid. The child turned and looked up at her, tears still falling from his eyes. _

_To Yugi's surprise, Susiros knelt down by the child and gently pulled him into a hug. "Oh, you poor, poor little boy…" she murmured, stroking his tri-colored hair. "Did those nasty thugs come at you again?"_

_"Yes…" the child sniffled. "They just won't stop…even when my daddy's the most powerful being in this world, they just won't stop…"_

_"Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie," Susiros said in what Yugi recognized as her sweet-feigning voice. "This has been going on for quite a while, hasn't it…"_

_The child nodded. _

_"It's so sad…practically no one can stop it…and you certainly can't get your daddy to do it, since he has much, much more pressing matters to deal with…"_

_The little one looked up at her and asked, "So what should I do?"_

_Susiros shrugged. "I'm sorry, hon, but as long as you're around, those thugs are pretty much just going to keep using you as their punching bag." She shook her head. "It looks like your only way to get out of it is to…escape."_

_"Escape?" the child repeated._

_Susiros gave him a deceptively sweet smile. "Yes, little one…escape…not to somewhere else in this world, since almost everyone would know who you were…but perhaps to somewhere where you'll be guaranteed to find that everlasting peace and happiness which you desperately need after going through __so much down here…" She shrugged. "Oh, well, but it's just a thought." She stood up and waved to the little one, "Well, goodbye, little guy. And if I never see you again, have fun wherever you go at last."_

_She turned and walked back down the alleyway, disappearing into its darkness._

_The child sat there in the street for a moment, deep in thought. Finally, he stood up with a determined look in his eyes. "That's it…" he muttered to himself. "I'm ending this pain once and for all…"_

_Yugi and the Pharaoh both gasped in horror._

* * *

Yugi slowly awoke with a fearful look in his eyes. To the other teens' shock, the three thugs suddenly vanished before their eyes, making Yugi's force field vanish and Tristan's empty arms flop down onto the floor. He heaved a sigh of relief and pulled them back to normal size, rubbing the spots which were slightly raw from the thugs' magic.

They turned and saw Yugi lying wide awake on the couch."Oh, Yugi, thank god," Téa said with a sigh of relief.

"Okay, Yug," Spencer said, folding his arms, "who were those three and do you have any clue why they were after you?"

Yugi didn't dare look up at Spencer at that moment. "Um, actually, Spencer…it wasn't me they were after…" he murmured.

Everyone stared down at him. "Whaddya mean?" Joey asked him.

Yugi looked up at Spencer and said, "I think you should sit down for this."

Spencer blinked. "Uhh…why?"

"Spencer, please," Yugi replied.

Confused, Spencer reluctantly sat down next to him on the couch.

"At the beginning of the dream, I thought that it was me those creeps were trying to get…but suddenly in the middle of it…I sort of floated up out of my physical form and saw that I wasn't really the one they were after…"

Spencer stared. "Oh?"

Yugi looked up. "I'm sorry, Spencer, but…it was Yuri."


	8. Chapter Seven: Don't Say It

Chapter Seven: Don't Say It

Spencer couldn't respond to Yugi's comment. He stared off into space with a stunned and horrified look on his face.

"Spencer?" Yugi said.

Finally, Spencer managed to sputter out: "My-my child?"

Yugi slowly nodded.

"Are-are you positive?"

"Spencer, he looked almost exactly like me, he was wearing the same outfit he wore in the picture you have, and his magic was a light blue shade, which is what he came down to you in, right?"

Spencer was absolutely shell-shocked. "My little one, being beaten up by a whole bunch of thugs? Why? He wouldn't hurt a flea!"

"And Spencer, that's not all," Yugi continued. "There was also-"

Before he could finish, however, Yugi felt some sort of strange power pass through the room. All of his friends suddenly froze; no one even blinked or let out a breath.

Yugi stared around at them. "Guys?" he asked.

The Pharaoh's spirit appeared next to him on the couch. He looked around at the others and asked, "What has happened to them?"

A white orb of light suddenly appeared in the corner of the room. The orb of light grew into a large portal out of which the gods of Spencer's dimension stared out at him.

_Hello, Yugi and Pharaoh, _D.M. said to him telepathically.

Yugi stood up from the couch and walked over to the portal with the Pharaoh right behind him. "What did you do to them?" he asked, indicating his friends.

_Now, now, calm down,_ D.M. replied. _We've only frozen time; they're all perfectly all right. We needed to speak to you privately._

"Why?"

"Don't tell Spencer about what occurred between his child and Susiros, _especially _not what she suggested he do to end his suffering?"

_"What?!" _Yugi cried out. "But Yuri's Spencer's son! He has a right to know that he might have-"

_He didn't._

Both Yugi and the Pharaoh paused. "You mean…Yuri's not dead?" Yugi asked.

_We didn't say that._

"So then he cannot be alive," the Pharaoh replied.

_We didn't say that either._

Now both Yugi and Pharaoh were very confused. "A human being is either among the living or among the dead-he must be one or the other!" the Pharaoh cried.

_No, that's not quite true,_ D.M. said. _There is one way that a human being could be both alive and dead all at once._

The two considered that for a moment. "Is he a spirit as well?" the Pharaoh asked.

D.M. shook his head. _We cannot say any more. What happened to Spencer's son is something you and your friends must find out on your own. All we can tell you is that you absolutely _cannot_ give Spencer the incorrect impression by telling him what happened between Yuri and Susiros. That is all._

With that, the portal shrank back into a white orb. Yugi and Pharaoh watched as the orb floated up and out of the living room.

Slowly, Yugi turned and walked back to the couch, returning to the same position he was in before the three gods had frozen time. The Pharaoh's spirit vanished.

The same power passed through the room once more, and time continued on its course.

"Yes?" Spencer asked Yugi. "There was also what?"

"There were also…indications that the beatings had been going on for a while," Yugi quickly replied.

Spencer buried his face in his hands. "How…" he breathed out. "How could this have been going on for so long and yet I didn't even have a single clue about it?" He looked back up, tears flowing down his face. "Why didn't he tell me?" he cried.

Yugi shook his head. "I'm sorry, Spencer," he murmured. "I'm just telling you what I saw."

"Dear gods…" Spencer breathed out in absolute horror.

At that moment, Nightmare suddenly reappeared in the room. "All right, heroes, it's time you were finally taken ou-" He froze and looked around, noticing that all of the dream figures had vanished. "Wha-" he cried out.

Spencer glared angrily at him. "Yeah, sorry, Nightmare, but you're a little too late," he snapped. He flung out his hand and shot a stream of gold magic at the former sandman. The magic wrapped itself around Nightmare, pinning his arms firmly down to his sides and making him drop the sack of white sand to the ground.

Dormiro quickly ran up to the sack and grabbed it. He grinned at the former sandman and said, "Sorry, Nightmare, but only actual sandmen are allowed to have these."

Nightmare could only glare at him.

Dormiro turned to the other teens. "Thank you, heroes, for being able to solve your dreams and stop this jerk at long last. See you tonight, and may all of you have pleasant dreams." He gave them a quick salute and vanished into thin air.

Spencer yanked Nightmare up to him, turned him around, and grabbed him with his spare hand by the back of his shirt collar. "Now then, bub, whaddya say you and I take a nice little trip down to the Kingrah police station? I'm sure they'd just love to have you there as a guest once they hear how you've been going around and destroying sandmen."He zapped up a custom portal box which he tossed onto the ground in front of them and threw a little spark into its hole. A portal shot up out of the box, leading directly into the streets of Kingrah.

Spencer stood up and led Nightmare towards the portal. He looked back at the others and nodded. "Nice work as usual, you guys," he said. "Once more, you've kept up your winning streak. And Yugi…"

Yugi looked down at the ground. "I'm sorry, Spencer…"

Spencer shook his head. "No, it's okay, Yug-you were just stating the facts. And though I'm not too happy about what was happening to him…at least now I know."

He gave Yugi a weak smile and walked through the portal, shoving Nightmare in front of him. Once they were through, the portal vanished into thin air.

Everyone stared at the now empty space. "Poor Spencer…" Téa murmured.

"Sheesh, what could be worse dan finding out someone ya loved was bein' beaten to a pulp almost every day?" Joey asked.

Yugi looked down at the ground. _Finding out that your worst enemy was trying to get him destroyed…_he thought in response.


	9. Epilogue: It's Time

Epilogue: It's Time

That night, Yugi just couldn't even get himself to shut his eyes. He just sat up in his bed, thinking about the terrible dream which he'd had.

The Pharaoh's spirit appeared sitting on the side of his bed and murmured, "Can't sleep, can you."

Yugi shook his head. "I just don't get it…"

"Well, you heard what the three said," Pharaoh replied. "They didn't want Spencer to get an incorrect impression about what truly happened to his son."

"It's not that," Yugi murmured, "although if that's not what happened, then I can't even imagine what really did…I was talking about the dream itself."

Pharaoh blinked. "What didn't you understand about it?"

"Why I had it," Yugi replied. "I have magical powers, I know, but being able to see what exactly happened to Yuri in his past…that'd be more like something Bakura would experience, not me."

"Oh…" the Pharaoh replied. "Yes, that is strange…"

Yugi nodded.

"By the way…there was something else…for quite some time, we couldn't get you to even have the dream that you'd had…I watched as Dormiro kept sprinkling that magic sand onto you, but…you were just plain refusing to dream…it was as though the dream wasn't even really yours…"

Yugi flopped back onto his pillow. "This is just too weird…what in the world is going on here?"

* * *

_All right then, you guys… _D.M. said to his friends. _The barrier we put up long ago is starting to falter, and we all know exactly why._

The other two nodded. "It was inevitable once his majesty came into that world," F.S. said.

_That crossover was more than enough to get him to start remembering. _

"Most definitely," F.S. replied.

B.E. nodded in agreement.

_So, then, I think we all know exactly what has to happen now._

"Mmm-hmm."

B.E. let out a small growl.

_It's time, you guys…time for Prince Yuri's ultimate destiny to finally be fulfilled…_


End file.
